May in Numbers!!

EEEKKKK It's June!!  I am so excited that the end of school is near but kinda can't believe it's here!  How are we almost half way through 2017 already?

Linking up today to share a rewind of May in Numbers with world traveler and fellow Blended Blogger, Deena I always have a fun time going through my month this way.  I'm sometimes surprised and other times I cringe, but  find it fun nonetheless!  Onward...

I had two goals this month- to drink less coffee and drink less wine!  I am happy to say I succeeded at both.  Most week days I kept it to one cup of coffee a day and didn't drink wine on too many week nights.  Except Red Nose Day, but I had a day off and that's a reason to celebrate!!  BUT I'll be honest here...may have overdid it on the margaritas on Cinco de Mayo and on the wine at the Memorial Day Family BBQ {Thanks, Mom for pointing THAT out!}.  Even when I was away I didn't drink much...so that was good!!

With the exception of my trip to Toronto, I hit my daily water goals too!  I like the way I felt when I drank more water and less wine...so I'm going to keep it up!!

Once again the weather this month SUCKED!!!!  It rained almost on the DAILY!! And ended up on the nicer side of things just three days!! There was one good day here at home...but I was away in chilly Toronto so I didn't get to enjoy it.  I was so happy though that it did fall on my school's WALK-A-THON day, so they were able to enjoy a beautiful walk and a day at the park-85 and sunny!!

Speaking of traveling....
I went on two trips and traveled over 1600 miles.
Spent 5{ish} glorious days  in Florida.  Well really 3, because we got there super late on Friday night and after 103 days of no rain, we brought the rain!  Saturday was a washout!  But the rest of our time was 90 and sunny!!  Came back with a tan so that's a success in my book!!  Our trip to Florida for Mother's day is an annual tradition!

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

Met the ladies of The Blended Blog for the first time in Toronto and spent 4 fun days with them.
We traveled 135 kilometers (that's about 84 miles for us American folk!) from Toronto to Niagara Falls on a bus tours with  4 stops in between!

The following day we walked over 24,000 steps around Toronto, clocked hours shopping where I swiped my credit card twice and came home with 5 new items from 2 Canadian-only stores!
Then I ended my day with a beer as big as my head...a stein weighing in at 34 ounces! Oopps!!
Read more about my trip here and here!!

The last days of May were uneventful as I got back into the swing of things with work.  All my traveling amounted to 4 sick days for me and 2 school days off,  so I only spent 16 days in school with the kiddos!  It also meant that the countdown to Summer Vacation is ON!!  15 more days!!  WOO HOO!!  Can't wait!!


There were 0 books read this month.  Thanks to one day on my couch (see that little Cinco de Mayo snippet above!)  and all the season finales in May, I watched a lot more TV...about 40 hours catching up on all the things on my DVR and binge watching Married at First Sight!  That show stresses me out!! LOL  I'll be better with the books this summer!!  It's five days into June and I've already finished one, so I'm on the right track!!  Oh but I did review one book this month for The Blended Blog's Virtual Book Club, which you can find here.

I feel like I always mention how much I eat out in town on the blog! LOL  I didn't eat out too too much this month!  Being away a week though, it was slim pickins in my cabinets when I got home, but I only ate out in town 4 times, once trying a new taco place, which was yummy!! I will return! Other times I had nice home cooked meals (made by someone else of course!) and I may have had way more than my fair share of pizza!  6 slices to be exact!  And perhaps too many crackers with peanut butter and jelly to count!

May on the Blog!!
Only 10 posts.  But what I did post, I loved!!
The most viewed post of the month- Friday Loves
Sad to say I've pretty much gotten away from posting my daily photos on insta!! I was just so terrible at it in May!  I did more life and less documenting!!  Follow me on Insta @solitarylife101

That's all for now I suppose!  Thanks for visiting today!!  Do you keep track of your month this way!  Link up with Deena too, here!

And don't forget to head on over to The Blended Blog now for a fun announcement!!

April in Numbers!

Seriously….how is it May already!  On the one hand I’m excited because it means we’re that much closer to summer vacation, and on the other hand I’m like…”Weren’t we just celebrating the New Year a hot second ago??”.

Sharing a rewind of April in Numbers today, like I do with Deena from time to time.  April just flew by.  And you know the saying, April Showers Bring May Flowers?  No truer words people, no truer words!!

March in Numbers

Kicking today of with a number...2!

It's the number of posts I'm busting out today!

The first Monday of the month is always a number post with Deena and the second is an April Showers post, with my girls at The Blended Blog!  I just couldn't pass up posting with them, so two posts is what you get today!

More numbers fun!

March is one of my favorite months of the year!  The High Holy Day that is St. Patrick's Day is in March but as I've gotten older I've realized something...that, well....I'm old. St. Patrick's Day to me is not what it used to be.  Which was indeed a big old party.  This year it was more of a low key event. And when I say low key, what I really mean is...a solitary event!  Ha!  I was home eating Ruben panninis, drinking Guinness, (2 to be exact!) and listening to Irish music...alone...group texting with the people I used to do St. Patty's day with in our younger years!  20-something texts exchanged.

I celebrated St. Patrick's Day twice...thanks to my town parade and celebration on the 19th.

This March was not only the longest month but also the coldest. 18 days of below average temperatures. Lots of rain and snow to deal with too!  We had one day of early release in school due to snow and one snow day...that ended up being more of a snow, slush, sleet, rain event.

Thankfully those days are now behind us.  Spring finally seems to be in the air!

Some other fun random numbers this month....

4 Dress Down Days at school (my fave)!  In one month that is HUGE!!  But there was Pi Day, St. Patty's Day, a Professional day and a field trip!  So I was happy, happy happy! And I got to rock my kelly green Adidas kicks!

3 New movies seen

-the New Beauty and the Beast in the theater...LOVED and have plans to go see it again next week.

-Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (my snow day viewing!)...meh!

-Pete's Dragon (the new live action version) I really liked this and probably cried way more then any adult should have watching this.  But the original, Puff the Magic Dragon, was one of my absolute favorites growing up so I really wanted to see this.

54 cups of coffee consumed

24 bottles of wine PURCHASED...not consumed!  Gotta love a good sale!!

2 Peapod orders It was a lot for one month, but with St. Patrick's Day and 1 Game Night hosted, I needed to be well stocked!  Game night was so much fun!  Can't wait to do it again.

In such a long month, only 4 nights eating out is really good for me!!  So I saved some money there!

I did shop though....11 days of packages at my door. Or as I like to call them....PRIZES!!

5 books started...2 Completed!  Read my reviews here!

That's about it...on to the blog!

Mishaps and Mayhem in March...

17 posts in the month of March!  The most posts so far this year!

Most viewed post: Little Letters (my first ever post to this link up, so that's exciting!)
Most viewed post on FB: Monday Musings
New likes on the Facebook page...YAY!  you can "like" the blog too, HERE!
Number of pics posted on Insta: 43  I missed some #katiedaily's!  Follow me @solitarylife101


Hope you had a fabulous March!  Link up with Deena for Number every first Monday of the month!!

Now that I've gotten through with 2 posts for the day, I am off to watch the Final Four...because I am currently #1 in my bracket with The Blended Blog, after being #2 the whole time!  WOO HOO!!  But goodness gracious does it start LATE!!

A February in Numbers

Joining Deena today to recap my February in Numbers! These post are always a lot of fun and most times they have me saying EEEEEKKKKK....

Was back to getting my Hello Fresh meals in February.  I received 1 delivery and really enjoyed all three meals.  I think my goal going forward is going to try to get one delivery each month!  Seeing how that goes, until summer vacation.  Then maybe upping it to two a month!  And how did I take 0 pictures of my meals!?!


2 Snow Days! At first I wasn't happy about them because I wanted a five day weekend for the Memorial Day holiday in May, but after seeing the over 12 inches of snow dumped in my town, I welcomed the days off.

And just for fun I thought I'd add this....because TV is kinda my thing!  The 400th episode of Law and Order: SVU aired in February.  The number of episodes of SVU I've seen over the years...400!  I've never missed an episode!  

The 2 snows days off pushed back our 100th Day to Valentine's Day, but we made it...and now there are only 77 days to go!!

5 Fabulous Vacation Days!  The Presidents' Week is always our winter break!  It was a glorious one this time around.  We got lucky with record temps close to 70 that week.  I even sat out in my rocking chair for 3 hours getting some sun and I made...

1 trip to the beach....in February!  It wasn't to lay out or get color but I did see some cute seals and got blown away!!

I saw 2 full length movies, 5 Oscar nominated shorts and 3 highly commended animation short films this month. La La Land and Jackie were both rather different but good.  The animated shorts were excellent, but in my opinion, not many were actually for children!  HA!

$101.51 back from Ebates from all my Christmas spending....whooooooo  If you don't use Ebates, you definitely should!!

2 Dress Downs at school...my most favorite days of the month!!

3 Thursday nights spent at my new favorite restaurant in town.

1 birthday celebrated...Cheers to 37 Years!  3 birthday celebrations!  100's of birthday wishes....HUGE THANKS to everyone!!

2 books completed, 2 more started!  (Thank you snow days) Read my review of Big Little Lies here!

Unfortunately, I did not remain shop free in February.  I shopped and spent.  But I had lots of birthday gift cards and rewards that helped keep my spending low...5 packages received!

Once again, most of my money was spent on food and drink!  At least I'm consistent!  Too much to calculate!  LOL

But I saved some money too!  Still working on my penny challenge. So far I've collected $11.37

February on the blog

# of posts = 9  This short month saw me short on posts!
Post with the most views: 37 Things for 37 Years both on the blog and on Facebook
#Number of Feature posts on The Blended Blog = 2
Check out my Tasty Tuesday Salsa Chicken here and The Blended Blog Loves post here!
47 pics posted to Insta and lots of new followers!  YAY!  Follow me @solitarylife101


Whew...It was a great February!  Hooray for March...longer days and warm temps that stick around!!

Thanks for stopping by today...have a great Monday friends!!

August...in Numbers!

Linking up with the forever fabulous Deena for her Monthly Numbers Post!  After never sharing my July, I'm back at it with an August recap!  In numbers...


Countless cups of coffee consumed! Because it's summer...and I have time for two a day!! Sometimes more if I had a cup after dinner and such! Most of which I put Rum Chatta in because I didn't have half and half (and was to lazy to go out and get!) Don't worry, Ma...I eventually did!!

0 trips to the grocery store and 0 peapod orders!  Which means...I ate out almost every single day in August, except one, because I came back from the Dominican Republic with a lil bug!!! I spent way too much money on food this month.

Looking back over my planner I can say there were a lot of toast, meetballs, cheese and rice pudding consumed this month.  I love my town!

3 visits to Toast- and none alone-woo hoo!!
4 visits to The Cheese Patch for Wine and Cheese
6 Visits to Meetball for meatballs, pretzels, and Beer!
2 visits to Sweet and Savory...where I sampled at least a dozen Rice Puddings.  Rice Pudding is my new favorite...especially when it's BO-GO!!

I feel like I always talk about food and drink in these posts, but really I felt like all I did this month was eat and drink....lots of prosseco and beer were consumed this month too.  But that just means I had a really great month hanging out, eating, drinking and enjoying time with good friends!!  I guess I can't ask for more than that!

Speaking of friends, made three new friends in August!  LOL

And I did something I said I would never do!!  I drank Pumpkin Ale in August!  Hahahahahaha...
Why do they stop making summer beers and start loading up the bars with pumpkin in August?!?  September People, September!!  But I gotta say....It was so damn good!!!

Lots of time was spent with family this month too!  Every weekend was spent at my one of my sisters' houses, so I was able to enjoy the beautiful weather we had and take advantage of their pools...and yummy cooking!  The weather this August was pretty AMAZING!!  So I spent hours in the sun!!

1 trip to the beach with friends and their little ones!  Because when the beach is involved Aunt Katie crashes play dates!!

Mom and Dad celebrated 45 years of marriage this month and my brother-in-law Anthony celebrated 40 years on earth!  Both fun celebrations.  On my parents anniversary, we re-watched the anniversary video my sister put together 10 years ago for their 35th (we threw them a big party, then). It was fun to reminisce and realize some of the kids weren't even born yet!!

6 days this month  were spent preparing for the new school year!  Meetings and visits to the classroom, and a Back-to-School BBQ on the 31st made it all real, helping to put summer vacation in the rear view! Tomorrow it's officially back to work!


1 Kenny Chesney concert attended, with 3 acts pre-show!  For me....this was not his best!  But I can say that after going nine times!  Still,  I will never not go!!  Kenny is Summer for me!!

Only 1 book finish in August!  But it was one I really enjoyed!! I reviewed it {here}.

August is always a tight month for me money wise and most of my money was spent on food (clearly!) but I did replace a few of the items that were stolen from me in the DR!  A got a new pair of white jeans, a new pair of blue jeans and some more workout clothes from Fabletics....all on super sale, so that made it a little bit better!!

Oh and August is my home-iversay!!  I celebrated three years in my cozy condo on August 29th!  I blogged about it too!

August on the blog....was a slow month!

12 posts
1 feature on TBB
Most Popular Post: What I Wore...on vacation!
Most viewed post on Facebook: What I Wore...on vacation!
And the fact that this photo was the most viewed out of everything on The Mishaps and Mayhem of a Solitary Life Facebook page this month makes me laugh so hard...and thanks!!


Hope your August was filled with great summer memories!  Here's to a sensational September!!

Happy Labor Day!!  Enjoy these last days of summer...

April in Numbers

Linking up with Deena for April in Numbers today!!

2 girls nights with this ladies!  So rare in our world...it's usually months at a time before all three of us can get together!  Always a night full of laughter and fun!

 After being home every Saturday night in March, I made up for it in April and went out the 4 out of the five Saturdays!  One rainy Saturday night may have been spent in, binge-watching the OJ mini-series.  Sketchy but sucked me right in!  (Ross Geller will always just be Ross Geller to me!)  Actually I had lots of fun nights out scattered through the month.


2 girls-only days with family!
My mom made a trip home in April so on Sunday, April 10th she put together her annual Tea Party for her grand girls...and her daughters!  She always does a great job and the kids love it...

Also had a Sunday girls day with my sister and nieces in town.  Complete with a trip to Meetball for big pretzels and fro yo for dessert!!  Which got me thinking... why don't I ever get froyo?!? I posted more about this day {here}

3 BEAUTIFUL 'lay out" days spent on my Postage Stamp Patio! And a nice base tan to show for it, even if I did get burnt to crisp on my first day out! But it really got me wishing the summer would get here already!

4 Starbucks coffees this month....after not having one since I think January...

Received one Hello Fresh delivery (thanks Mom) and made all three meals!  They were some of the most delicious I can remember!! Not really sure why I only took pics of two of the dishes!!  Maybe I didn't make that third meal...Hmmmm....

 Had one Peapod delivery as well.  In which was 4 boxes of Peanut Butter Cap' Crunch.  Those 4 boxes of cereal contributed to the single most embarrassing moment of the month...which I documented on the Mishaps and Mayhem Facebook Page {follow here!}

#thatwasalie!

1 new computer bought...but have yet to receive!  I mentioned that my computer was getting iffy these days.  I thought about getting a Chromebook, but after using one of my school's this week, I realized at the end of the day I'm a Windows girl!  After seeing this on Amazon as the Deal of the Day on Friday, at 5:30 am I hit "buy now"!  I like that it's a two in one and also that it's five pounds. Way more portable than this huge lug I'm typing on now!!  Fingers crossed it's a good one!  And after 6 years, it was time for something new!

I bought the computer because it's a good deal and because I could kinda afford it at this point, with all the After care I've been doing!  49 hours this month to be exact!  LOL

1 blog photoshoot with my sister that resulted in 78 photos on my iphone! Only a handful of those will be making it to the blog!!

Sneak Peek!

Book club for this month was a total fail, as was completing any book!!  Hoping this changes in May! I want to get back to linking up with Alison for Reading Lately!


I feel like I've slept a lot this month but damnit,  I'm up at 5 am, even on the weekends!!  I watched Arianna Huffington on Dr. Oz talking about her Sleep Revolution earlier this month.  It's got me wanting to track my sleep in May!  I have already begun trying to disconnect from devices 30 minutes before bed.  This is hard though, when my cell phone is my alarm clock!  I may have to invest in a cheapo alarm clock.  I'll let you know how I do in May!

And last but not least...1 new 'do!  I colored my hair...#graybegone

April in Numbers on the blog...
Posted 19 times in April (my lowest since January, but up five since this time last year!)
Most viewed post: Finally Friday!
Most view post via The Mishaps and Mayhem of a Solitary Life FB page: Monday Moments of Gratitude (4-4-16)  I posted this to the FB super late in the evening,  but it had the most views...that's good to know!!!
Photos on Insta! 62 Find me! I'm @solitarylife101


Check out this year's previous Numbers posts {here}!

And now MAY is here, and you know what that means....one more month closer to summer!!  Woo Hoo!!  Hope you all have a month filled with fun, food, family and everything else in between!!

March in Numbers!

Happy Monday!!  Ugh...today's the first day back to work after Spring Break! So to help me through this day it's a big ol' coffee this morning and I'm already looking forward to the wine I'll have when I get home!!

April is Here!  A quarter way through the year-yikes!!  Not like I want it to fly or anything...well maybe I do....bring on Summer!!!

Recapping my March in numbers today with the lovely Deena!  It's a pretty short list. With the exception of Spring Break and it's doings, March was rather uneventful for me!!

Speaking of Spring Break, that was a nice little treat for the month of March.  I was off 11 days, 8 of which were in March.  It was a nice break.  I was able to check 5 items off the Spring Break Bucket List I put together, had lots of fun and relaxed a bunch too.  Breaks always go too fast!!

Of the four Saturday nights in March I spent every single one of them  at home!!  #solitarylifeprobs I was sick one Saturday though! :(

But on those Saturdays I had the opportunity to start and finish all 6 seasons, 94 episodes of Sex and the City again!  I'm so glad I decided to watch it again now.  Because I'm the age that they were then.  I've also discovered I have a little bit of each of the girls in me right now!  When it was first on I was 100% Charlotte!   LOL

But I went out a bunch though too...

4 visits to my favorite place, Meetball with family and friends!

3 dinners with friends at other fun places in town

2 visits to Parabell and 2 breakfasts at Toast

1 Sushi night!  Definitely not enough sushi this month!!

Clearly, I eat out a lot but never leave my three-mile radius!

Actually that not true...I met with friends out of town for dinner once!

4 family days this month.  Lunches and dinners with my sisters and their families, and the whole lot of us got together for Easter Sunday!

1 Hello Fresh delivery!  But only 1 recipe made!  The other two meals I ended up splitting, and eating in other ways!!  I got it on a bad week when I ended up going out a lot!!   But anytime there's a risotto, I get a delivery!!  Love risotto!!!!!!!!!!

1 book club meeting hosted!  The first book club meeting! And I'd say it was a success!!

My reading this month was not great though!  2 books finished in March (Edgewater...the Book Club book) and Rediscover Jesus, that I read throughout all of Lent! A third book I started but never completed!  Fingers crossed I can finish it in April!!

As always, too much coffee, too much wine and thanks to one over-indulgent Happy Hour on Spring Break, too much beer!!  But lots of water too, thanks to my new tupperware water bottle.

So I think that's it for me for the month!!


March on the Blog:

22 posts in March

My 350th post was published!  Style Perspectives White Jeans Edition!

The blog, Facebook Page and Instagram all saw an upswing in followers, as did blog numbers themselves.

The most viewed post in March : Home is Where the Heart is

Most View post via Mishaps and Mayhem FB Page: My Mixed Tape

2 Posts on The Blended Blog {here and here} and 5 Style Perspectives Link-ups with the Ladies of TBB {here}

Number of pics posted to Insta: 57 Check them all out here and follow me...I'm @solitarylife101


How was your March? Let me know in the comments below!!

And head on over to The Blended Blog today, Deena is sharing 4 fun Spring trends!!

February in Numbers!

It's that time again!  How fast time flies!  Linking up with Deena to share my February in Numbers! It was a fun busy month for me with a vacation and my birthday in between!

The month started out with 2 snow days...YAY!!  Hopefully though that's all now out of Mother Nature's system and spring is around the corner!

February also brought Catholic Schools Week...my favorite 5 days of the whole school year!  We got to dress down 2x that week!  I love wearing my Jeans!!  And this year it was only 4 days, due to snow!

With the five days of Winter Recess and two snow days, we were only in school 13 days in February!  Not too shabby!

After hitting a high of 64 degrees on February 1st, the temperatures dipped to record lows on Valentine's Day Weekend.  With a Low of 4 on Saturday, and 0 on Sunday, with wind chills of -40 both days!  It was too cold to even venture out, I was grateful for my cancelled plans!  I was really kind of a hermit this month!

But it gave me a chance to read!  3 books and one I am in the middle of, since it's Lent!  Read more about my February reads here!

 When I did head out it was to enjoy some food and fun with friends. And it was all during Winter recess and for my birthday!. 1 breakfast, 1 brunch,  2 sushi dates, 2 nights out in town, 1 Tupperware party (and over $100 spent!  LOL)

Out with my mom and sisters for my birthday 

1 home cooked meal made for me by my sister and one crockpot meal made by me...that resulted in 4 meals!!  I just love the crockpot! And 1 Hello Fresh delivery...which this time only ended up being 4 meals instead of my usual 6.  This might've been me on Valentine's Day...

Oh there's this too....13 episodes of Fuller House binge-watched!  I loved it...super cheesy and all sorts of fabulous!  Fingers crossed there's more!

Netflix

And just for fun....
2 "fake"holidays celebrated!
National Drink Wine Day on February 18th But let's be for real....everyday is National Drink Wine Day!! (Next month, maybe I should track the number of glasses of wine I have in a month!  On second thought...)
National Margarita Day on February 22nd I have quesadillas most nights anyway, I just added a little kick to them, that night!!  :)  I good dress rehearsal for Cinco de Mayo!

February on the blog, Facebook and Insta!!
21 Posts
The Most Viewed Post: It's Friday and I'm not happy about it!
Most viewed post that was not part of a link -up: 36 is....
I'm pretty proud of that...thanks for all the birthday love!
The most viewed on post on FB 36 is... (YAY!)
Only a handful of newbies joined the FB page in February!  If you haven't already, go give it a "like" here!
77 pics posted to insta!  That seems like a lot for such a short month!  HA!!


Head on over to Deena's blog and check out more Numbers Posts!  And link up too!!

January in Numbers

After taking a few months off, I'm back linking up with my girl Deena for her Month in "Numbers" Post! Fingers crossed I can make it through every month this year!

 Hard to believe January is in the books!!  So friggin' scary how fast goes!  January is a typical slow, hibernating month for me.  The cold finally kicked in and we had a blizzard!  But there are also a few other things of note!  So here goes...

I cooked a lot at home but I also went out to dinner a lot.  I am participating in Carrie's #ShopFreefor3 so no money was spent on clothes, but it was all spent on food!  Ha!

6 crockpot meals made!  With the exception of a quick quesadilla here or there, everything I cooked was in the Crockpot...a girl's best friend in January!! So yummy and for me makes tons of meals for both breakfast and lunch.  Some were of the clean eating variety, some were not!

This one was definitely the easiest and super yummy!!  Love me some sweet potatoes!!

9 Nights Out  That's a lot...and EXPENSIVE! (Actually I didn't realize it was so many! Thank you Planner!!)  I'll be more of a hermit in February!

2 Girls Nights in!- Cheaper...Woo Hoo!!

2 Peapod orders delivered...in preparation for all those crockpot meal and girls nights!  Over a hundred dollars in coupons and savings between the two.  And I had a gift card!

I talked earlier about my shopping ban!  I did this last year and made it pretty far, but then fell off the wagon pretty hard!  If I can make it through the three months in the shop free group, I'll give it a go for another three months.  But the group has helped me to re-evaluate.

I've spent 0 dollars on clothes this month.  I did however, break my rule about not using my Victoria Secret Card.  But bras and underwear are necessities!!  After giving 2 bras to my sister and donating 2, I needed to replenish!  I got a really good deal, had a rewards cards to use, got free shipping and a free tank when all was said and done, so I thought it was as good a time as any to shop.

During Shop Free, I've purged and cleaned out 3 closets, donated one big-ass bag of clothes and have another bag ready to go to Thred up!

Instead of buying at Nordstrom, I returned things! $108.78 worth.  I did end up having to buy a pair of gloves there for $5.68 after losing a pair!  (A blizzard was coming!!)

That's not to say no packages were at my door in January!  I did get a few...7 to be exact!

My most favorite was my new Erin Condren Life Planner.  I bit the bullet shortly after Christmas and went ahead and purchased one of these.  I AM SO GLAD I DID!!!  The vertical layout is perfect for me and my needs and I am loving keeping track of everything!!  I might however, go broke...I want to make my planner cute and fun and have purchased 4 planner sticker orders on etsy!!

And I ordered a new set of sheets on Groupon after my most loved and favorite pair were ruined!!! :( These new ones are so not as great!!  But they're still cozy!  I am loving groupon lately. And it's 10% back at ebates!  If you're not using ebates...you should be!!  Total legit cash back!!  Sign up here!!

I also got two new pairs of shoes.  A pair of flats for work (after forgetting I threw out a few from under my desk at school before the Christmas Break!), and another pair of riding boots.  With CP and the way I walk, the soles of my right shoes tend to wear out quick.  But when my favorite boots are on clearance and I have $20 in rewards, I stock up on them!!  (Not clothes, so I'm still good!!)  *Note to any readers out there, if you're and 8 or an 8 1/2 and have shoes you no longer want, I'm looking for donations...LOL...JK!*

I was also chosen to receive the #CheersVoxBox from Influenster this month, so that was a nice surprise!

And last but not least, I ordered a book.  It's a parody of He's Just Not that into You, called Maybe He's Just an Asshole!  Ha!!  I saw it as a recommendation after pre-ordering another book and thought this might be a good read for me as of late!  And I could use a good laugh!  I haven't started reading it but will let you know how it is.

Speaking of books...I finished 2 in January! {My goal for 2106 is 16}  One was a gift and one was a library loan!  The gift, The Mistletoe Inn, I reviewed here!  The other, I finished last night, so will review in my next book post!!

The blizzard was a super fun day! 24 inches fell in my town...with other places on the Island topping out at close to 30! Come on back to the blog on Thursday to hear all about my day of the blizzard when the ladies of The Blended Blog and I get together for A Day in the Life Blog Hop!

And with that came one snow day!  Woo Hoo!!

It was a big month for me and movies!!  I saw 6 of them!
Joy- I know people loved this, and great for JLaw that she won the Golden Globe, but in all honesty, I hated it!!

The Big Short- I liked this well enough, but I think I need to see it again to really understand it better!

Spotlight- GREAT!!  And crazy!  And good for the cast for winning at the SAG Awards Saturday night!!  Go Mr. Mom!

The 33- This was good...well maybe just ok!

Focus- I really enjoyed this.  I like Will Smith and Margot Robbie!  I watched her when...in Pan Am. Anyone but me remember that show??

Brooklyn!! So, so good...my favorite of the month!  My bloggy buddy Leslie posted a review of this movie a while back and my mom had recently just seen it and reminded me about it so I saw it.  Can I just say....the ugly cry came out!!  And I think I should've been born an Irish girl in the fifties!!

{Find out details about these movies and more at IMDB!}



January at The Mishaps and Mayhem of a Solitary Life
# of posts- 10
Most read post this month- A Few Christmas Week Looks
Most viewed blog post on Facebook: Happy Birthday Mom

January saw a new year and the start of a new year of daily photos on Instagram.  #katiedaily2016.  I posted 46 pics.  Follow along with the Mishaps and Mayhem here!

I also contributed a post to The Blended Blog and was part of the January Wrap up!
Head on over to The Blended Blog to check out our new series, The Look of Love,  that begins today!

Hope you all had a wonderful January too!!! So much to look forward to in February!!  Including the Daily Style Finds: What to Wear that starts today!  Thanks to my readers who signed up!  Looking forward to it!!

Have a great week!!
Katie